Solid state lighting assemblies that include arrays of solid state lights are used for many lighting applications. For example, solid state lighting assemblies have been used as direct illumination sources, for example, in architectural and/or accent lighting. A solid state lighting assembly may include, for example, a two dimensional array of discrete light sources arranged on one or more backplanes to form light panels. Each of the light sources may include one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). Two types of LEDs that may be used in the light sources include inorganic LEDs, which typically include semiconductor layers that form p-n junctions, and organic LEDs (OLEDs), which include organic light emission layers. LEDs typically generate light through the recombination of electronic carriers, i.e. electrons and holes, in a light emitting region or layer.
Solid state lighting panels are commonly used as backlights for small liquid crystal display (LCD) display screens, such as LCD display screens used in portable electronic devices. In addition, there has been increased interest in the use of solid state lighting panels as backlights for larger displays, such as LCD television displays.
For smaller LCD screens, backlight assemblies typically employ white LED light sources that include a blue light emitting LED coated with a wavelength conversion phosphor that converts some of the blue light into yellow light. The resulting light, which is a combination of blue light and yellow light, can appear white to an observer.
For large-scale backlight and illumination applications, it is often desirable to provide a light source that generates a white light having a high color rendering index, so that objects and/or display screens illuminated by the lighting panel may appear more natural. Accordingly, such light sources typically include an array of LED light source sources, each of which may include red, green and blue LED chips. When red, green and blue LED chips are energized simultaneously, the resulting combined light may appear white, or nearly white, depending on the relative intensities of the red, green and blue light emitted by the LED chips.
With a continuing trend toward providing solid state light panels having higher density and/or larger arrays of LED light sources, there is a continuing need to provide electrical connectivity to the arrays of LED light sources in a manner that allows improvements in the cost, compactness, and/or reliability of the lighting panels and resulting assemblies.